Saxon Find (Found nr Maidstone, Kent, England)
By Greg Sweetman (Nr Dover Kent, England)
Like any dig, there is always going to be that “what if?” that goes through your mind whenever you walk out onto that field. Never knowing what you are going to find is the reason why all of us addicted detectorists keep coming back for more. Fuelled every now and then by the ground giving up its secrets with a find, and sometimes something rather special.
For me it was going to be Sunday 16th February 2014 I was on a dig with Medway History Finders MDC. After a pleasant couple of hours detecting I moved onto a different part of the field when I received a weak signal from my Minelab Safari. This signal turned out to be the find of a lifetime. First find was a silver Saxon pin, which I showed Kevin Reader, the Vice chairman of the club and he advised to carry on looking. I widened the hole just enough for the coil to enter and managed to pick out another signal. I carried on digging down through the sandy soil with my hands to about 20 inches till I felt something touch the tip of my fingers; I carefully removed the items to be presented with that dream moment that took my breath away. Two Saxon square ended type brooches and another Saxon pin.
After I regained consciousness, which took a while I informed the Site organisers, Kevin Reader and Pete Clarke (Club Chairman) who on my behalf, tried in vain to contact the right people to report the find. Sadly no one could be contacted. After much deliberation, we decide to dig a little wider, worried that someone might come back that night. The widened hole revealed a lovely disc brooch and a few other bits including a Saxon buckle, three Saxon belt fittings and one piece which looked like a bit of pottery.
Two days later the finds were handed over to the archaeologists and the so called piece of pottery turned out to be bone. This delayed the archaeologists coming down till the Thursday as a Burial Licence would be required to excavate the site now.
I went back to the site on the Thursday and met up with a team of archaeologists and a few club members to excavate the site. The archaeologists dug further into and extended the original hole to try and locate a possible burial; with the nature of the artefacts and bone fragment indicating that there may be a skeleton and further grave goods to be found. Jennifer our FLO (Finds Liaison Officer) did manage to find a stunning coloured glass bead, but only one. Although a burial was not located this does not mean there was not one nearby. The team may do a geophysics survey on the land that might turn up some structures underground but we will have to wait and see.
